State Supreme Court Justice Kennard retiring

California Supreme Court Justice Joyce Kennard, the longest serving current justice, is retiring on April 5, giving Gov. Jerry Brown a chance to further shape the state's highest court.

The 72-year-old Kennard notified Brown on Tuesday afternoon of her intent to step down in two months, when she will hit 25 years on the job as an influential -- and sometimes quirky -- member of a Supreme Court who is well known for her independent streak, willingness to pen dissents and her lengthy grilling of lawyers during oral arguments in California's highest profile cases.

In an interview with this newspaper, Kennard said: "It is with a heavy heart I'm saying goodbye."

"April 5 will be 25 years," Kennard said. "That's a quarter of a century. That's a long, long time."

Former Gov. George Deukmejian, a conservative Republican, appointed Kennard to the Supreme Court in 1989, capping a swift rise through the judiciary, where she previously was a Los Angeles trial judge and an appeals court justice for a brief time before being elevated to the state's high court.

But Kennard never fit the mold of a conservative appointee, often breaking ranks with her colleagues, writing dozens of dissents in her long career, including in death penalty cases. Asked about her legacy, Kennard replied: "I'll leave it to others how they judge my tenure."

Kennard was famous for interjecting questions during oral arguments before the Supreme Court, often turning them into lengthy speeches before pointing her finger at a lawyer and demanding an answer. She was unpredictable in her rulings, and would come down on the more liberal side of social issues before the court.

Kennard was in the 4-3 majority that in 2008 struck down California's long-standing bans on gay marriage, a ruling that preceded voter approval of Proposition 8 -- which restored the same-sex marriage ban until the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated it last year.

Among her other notable cases was a 2002 ruling in which she found against Nike, concluding that businesses could be held liable for public statements regarding labor practices as commercial business speech.

With Kennard's retirement, Brown has a chance to name his second justice to the seven-member court. The governor previously appointed Justice Goodwin Liu. In a statement, Brown praised Kennard, saying she "left a lasting mark on the court."